In 2014 in the Scottish region of Fife, 14-year-old David Hall was doing a bit of exploring with his metal detector when, suddenly, it started beeping like crazy! You ever been to the beach and seen the old guys out there with their metal detectors, hoping to find a quarter or two, or maybe a…
Refreshing! That word’s been used to describe everything from a soft drink, to a vacation destination in the Caribbean, to a couple hours at a day spa. And one could certainly enjoy a measure of refreshment from each of those. I’m looking for refreshment of a different sort this week while attending the Refresh Conference…
I’ve never been a great fan of winter. Sure, as a kid I had fun sledding, building an occasional snowman or two, and battling a bit in snowball wars. But I’ve always preferred the warmer days of spring, summer, and fall. Part of the reason for my distaste for the cold weather is surely due…
One of the biggest mistakes parents of more than one child can make is showing favoritism towards one of their children. What’s the depth of emotional hurt when an adult child says to his sibling, “Yeah, well, mom always liked you better!” Don’t you have to wonder how much family dysfunction is due to either…
In the course of reading the familiar story of Abraham’s encounter with three strangers (Genesis 18)—a story I’ve read dozens of times—I was reminded of some of the experiences of thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail (AT). Could you imagine yourself driving along a relatively quiet rural two-lane highway, approaching a couple of scraggly looking characters…
It what would seem to some as an act of sheer insanity, in the middle of the afternoon on New Year’s Day—when it was -5º outside—I donned my Smartwools®, ear muffs, down jacket, and gloves, and went for a couple-mile walk on the Rock River Sinnissippi Park trail. Along the path, I came across a…
I recently came across a very contemporary sermon preached by the late D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, pastor of London’s Westminster Chapel until 1968. Lloyd-Jones died 35 years ago; the sermon I read is from a series on Isaiah 40 entitled The All-Sufficient God that he preached in 1954. While all the sermons in the series are…
There’s nothing quite like a good sunrise to put things in perspective. I’ve visited Chicago plenty of times through the years and seen a gamut of stuff up close and personal. Certainly, parts of the city are beautiful: Millennium Park…the view from Navy Pier…the grand architecture…the river walk along the Chicago River. My wife and…
As with a good chunk of our nation, we got dumped on pretty heavily this past Saturday night and all day Sunday. I haven’t yet heard the total snowfall accumulation in our community, but a couple hours in the driveway with snow blower and shovel tell me it was significant enough. That part of a…
Usually, if someone is heart-set on having an abundance of something, we tend to be rather critical of his greed and selfishness, right? Generally, that’s justifiable. In the Christian world, one of the greatest blights is the “prosperity gospel” crowd who preach that God wants you to have that big house, fat wallet, glistening Rolex,…